Category: Government

Published on by Nayar

Slavery still on in the Employment Rights Act of Mauritius

Stay in your job position for 8 hours. On top of that, add 1 hour more for lunch time. Makes 9 hours in the workplace already.

As the time of writing, February 2017, teleportation has not yet been invented — or at least not that common people know of. It takes around 1 hour to 3 hours to commute to our workplace. Stupid traffic jams. Cherry on the cake, Mauritian Ministers with their escorts have the guts (‘toupe monstre’) to halt other road users so they can drive in our tax-paid BMWs and on our tax-paid roads in front of us while we, uhm, watch them in their dark tinted windows. Why are they in such a hurry to travel to finally do nothing?

The 8 hour work day supposed to be like this (best case scenario):

But in reality, it’s very different:

Lot’s of people do over-times on top of the 8 hour work which further decreases their personal times and sleep. This leads to insomnia, depression.

I believe we have the rights to spend time with our children, energy to setup shop. To summarise, we need time to live!

How many for “30 hour work-week” in Mauritius?

Published on by Nayar

Why it took me 13 Days to get a Mauritian Passport

You know what sucks? When you’re completing some formalities and some officials tell you that you lack a particular document and they send you home.

It happened to me when I was applying for a Mauritian Passport. The official government website says:

Day 1 (Wednesday)

Printed and filled the Passport form. Got my passport photos shot at a studio. Reached Police Station at 17:00 with all documents mentioned on the website. The officers told me the Immigration Office closes at 16:30. Go Home #1

Day 2 (Thursday)

Went at the Immigration Office again at 10:45. Officer says I do not have a proof of address document. I need to go home and fetch it. I told the officer that proof of address was not mentioned on the website. He replied the proof of address is required by the “Police” to sign the address section of the document.

But I had other plans later that day. Couldn’t afford to go home and come back again. Go Home #2

Day 3 (Friday)

Slept till late. Had to go to Friday prayers. Reached Police Station at 15:00. Brought my proof of address (CEB and Telecom bill). Made Police officer sign the proof of address section of the form. However, couldn’t submit the form to the Immigration Office because they only take applications from 09:00 – 14:30 (lunch time 12:00 – 13:00). Go Home #3

Day 4/5/6 (Saturday/Sunday/Monday)

Weekends and Public Holiday. The Immigration Offices are closed in Police Stations.

Day 7 (Tuesday)

Managed to submit the form to the Immigration office. Paid Rs 700. Got receipt with appointment on the following Monday between 14:30 – 16:00 to fetch it. They told me to come in person. Go Home #4

Day 8/9/10/11/12 (Wednesday – Sunday)

4 days waiting periods and weekends

Day 13 (Monday)

Finally the big day. Returned to work from holidays of 2 weeks. Had to take half day leave at work in the afternoon to go fetch the passport. Got the passport within 5 mins reaching the office. Go Home #5

 

Conclusion

If only the 50 million rupees website had hinted that the Police officers will be requiring a proof of address, it would have saved like a week of waiting and a half-day leave for a common citizen of Mauritius.

Emailing those guys seem not to be an options since the old “gov.mu” mail is still up on the website. Gotta call them when I the motivation to 🙁

Published on by Nayar

[Part 1] Requirements of a Good Transportation System for Mauritius

Transportation in Mauritius is better than lots of “third world” countries. I think Mauritius deserves to be the top!

Requirements of a good Transportation System

1. Eco-friendly

Our planet first, right?

2. Time Saving

Time is money they say. Fuck money! Time is life. Why waste time to get more imaginary money? Be with your family. Work your hobbies. Make yourself happier.

3. Comfortable

We’re animals. Comfort is what we all like.

4. Cheap

We don’t need to be spending 50% of our salary to be able to go to the ever diminishing public beaches (special thanks to Mr Shawkutally Soodhun for selling our beaches like his predecessors).

5. Safe

Who wants to die or lose some body parts? Safe

Conclusion

I think all the points above can be summarised by 1 word: Stress-Free

We don’t want to to harm the planet. We don’t like being bored. We want to live our lives to the fullest. If we continue to believe in our stupid Ministers and Parliamentarians, nothing ain’t gonna change — at-least in the not favour of Mauritians.

Please do comment about your personal requirements for what you, as a Mauritian, expect our transportation system to be. Stay safe. Let’s hope 2017 is the year Mauritians talk, propose ideas and get things done 😉

 

 

Published on by Nayar

Changes to Road Traffic Act Mauritius

According to L’express, today the Ministers were supposed to discuss about changes to Road Traffic Act: Amendements à la Road Traffic Act: ce que risquent les chauffards

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The article states:

“Conduite dangereuse entraînant la mort

Un individu qui a causé la mort d’une personne en se rendant coupable de conduite dangereuse sera passible, après condamnation, d’une amende variant entre Rs 25 000 et Rs 50 000 et d’une peine d’emprisonnement ne dépassant pas cinq ans.Actuellement, l’emprisonnement maximal est de trois ans pour ce délit…

Conduite imprudente en état d’ivresse

Un conducteur reconnu coupable d’avoir causé la mort d’une autre personne alors qu’il était en état d’ivresse sera passible d’une peine d’emprisonnement de cinq ans au maximum, au lieu de trois ans.”

Dunno actual the benefits caused by keeping someone in jail for 2 more years on the expense of Mauritian tax payers.

“En cas d’accident

Jusqu’à présent, le conducteur impliqué dans un accident a quatre heures pour le rapporter à la police. Ce délai sera ramené à une heure.”

Hmm. Purpose?

Le rôle d’un magistrat

Un magistrat aura désormais la possibilité de suspendre le permis d’un conducteur arrêté avec un taux d’alcool au-dessus de la limite autorisée, à la demande de la police et avant même qu’il ait été reconnu coupable en cour.

What? Can’t understand anything. What’s the difference between “reconnu coupable” and having higher alcohol level in blood? Either you broke the law or you did not. WTF?

Anyways, forget the Ministers and their shows. What do YOU think will really reduce accident on Mauritian roads?

My thoughts:

  • Replace roundabouts by flyovers. Might cost a lot but much less than what the ministers spend abroad in 1 year alone.
  • Add more reflective road markings.
  • Remove humps on the roads to reduce stress fir drivers.
  • Add more speed cameras but increase the speed limit so as to still make it drivable. Some places the speed limit is at 60km/h for no reason despite the car naturally wants to go at 80km/h.

 

Published on by Nayar

Let Mauritian people afford new Tyres for less accidents!

Foreach Rs 2000 I earn over 21,923, Rs 300 will be deducted under the PAYE system [1]. The remaining Rs 1750,  Net Payment, which will be credited into my bank account. Should I decide to purchase let’s say 1 tyre for my car at Rs 1200 + VAT/Tax. I need to pay Rs 1380 (Rs 180 as VAT/Tax). But wait! Is that it?

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Let’s see what the the MRA website says about Tyres [2].

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What do I see there? There was already a 30% duty/custom charges on it. Meaning about Rs 277 was already Taxed upon it by Government.

In order to change 4 tyres on my car, I need to work for a whopping Rs 6494. PAYE will cut Rs 975 on my salary slip. I will pay 15% VAT for 4 tyres totaling Rs 720. 30% Duty/Custom Charges totaling Rs 1107. In reality, It would have costed only Rs 3692.

Do you find it OK to have to work for Rs 6494 to buy things which are priced at Rs 3692. And that thing happens to be primordial for road safety?

And it’s not over. I need to pay Rs 3500 yearly as Road Tax. Meaning I need to earn Rs 4117 (15% PAYE). Rs 1200 fitness for twice a year, need to work for Rs 1412. Not counting yearly insurance, levy on fuel and so on.

Hey Mr the Government. Instead of putting bullshit policies around, let the common people use their hard earned money to maintain their cars properly instead of paying you to use shitty roads. Buying new tyres is NOT a crime but rather should be encouraged for safer roads.

BTW, there is a petition to remove Custom Charges on new cars which have engines less than 1600 cc. Please sign here: https://www.change.org/p/mvda-pour-la-suppression-de-l-excise-duty-pour-les-v%C3%A9hicules-de-moins-de-1600cc

NOTE: I am not a financial expert. I am just a citizen of Mauritius browsing the internet.

[1] www.mra.mu/index.php/employers/paye

[2] http://www.mra.mu/index.php/importexport-a-others/travellers/88-customs-charges